


Solicited Advice

by jane_fucking_seymour



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:14:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21795143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_fucking_seymour/pseuds/jane_fucking_seymour
Summary: Jane wants to be a good mum to Katherine. She seeks advice in the wrong places.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 128





	Solicited Advice

All Jane Seymour wanted was to be a good mum.

She prided herself on that, actually; being known for your son in the past and the caretaker of a 495-year-old teenager tended to bring about a want to be the best at the whole parenting thing. And since she wasn’t able to be there with Edward - as she painfully reminded herself every day - she did have a second chance with a one Katherine Howard, who seemed to latch onto her happily and became the daughter Jane (famously) never had.

It was nice.

But Jane wanted to do more.

She looked far and wide for resources to help, but they all seemed either too formal or just plain outdated… so Jane decided to get the internet to help.

This was her first mistake.

The first site she found looked a bit too… weird… for her taste, so she kept looking up different versions of “parental help” as an internet search until she found what she thought she was looking for: Parental Guidance Anonymous, a forum used by parents to help other parents.

Looking through a lot of the topics on the forum, Jane could tell people were not only asking questions, but having them answered; most put that the advice worked, giving Jane a ray of hope. 

So, with a smile on her face, she signed onto the forum.

Once situated, she immediately began a new topic (after learning how to post, of course; it took longer than expected because she couldn’t dare ask Katherine or another queen to help without looking absolutely pathetic, trying to ask the Internet for help on this… rather sensitive manner).

> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _Hello everyone! I’m new to the forum and I was hoping I could get some advice. I have a 19 year old daughter and I feel like maybe I’m not parenting her well enough… I just don’t know where to begin to improve._
> 
> _It takes a few moments for someone to reply._
> 
> **MGordon32**
> 
> _Welcome to the forum, Seymour. I’m assuming by “parenting” you mean “discipline”?_

Jane paused at that, trying to figure out exactly what they meant.

> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _I guess I do?_

Jane wasn’t entirely sure that was the case, but it was better than nothing.

> **OMarsdin90**
> 
> _Welcome, Seymour! Glad to have you with us. If you’re looking for better discipline techniques, you’ve come to the right place. Is there anything you think is specific that you want help with?_

Jane thought about it for a moment before replying.

> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _I want to help with her nightmares and when she gets in trouble._
> 
> **MGordon32**
> 
> _When does she have nightmares?_
> 
> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _It used to be every day, now it’s more like once every month or so. On bad months, it’s about two a week, but she’s been getting better at it. It’s worse when I’m away, so I’ve been told._
> 
> **MGordon32**
> 
> _Why do you think that is?_
> 
> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _When I’m there, I help get her back to sleep and she sleeps with me that night, so that’s probably part of it._
> 
> **OMarsdin90**
> 
> _You let your 19-year-old daughter sleep with you?!? That’s insane. And weird._
> 
> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _She has nightmares. Really bad ones. She loves cuddles and she wants to make sure a friendly face is there during the night. I wake her up, comfort her, then help her sleep that way._
> 
> **MGordon32**
> 
> _Do you pack her lunches too, jeez! She’s 19 for Christ’s sake, Seymour!_

Jane frowns at that.

> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _Am I not supposed to help?_
> 
> **MGordon32**
> 
> _SEYMOUR OMG stop treating her like a spoiled babey! Give her some direction and some tough love! She clearly needs it lol_

Jane sighs, running a hand through her hair as she reads through the rest of the comments: all suggestions on how to help Katherine sleep alone, without anyone there. If she has a nightmare, apparently, Jane is supposed to leave her alone in the night.

> **MGordon32**
> 
> _I promise, it’ll be tough at first, but she’ll be better for it. Especially if she’s a teenager. Just don’t go to her room the next time it happens. And DON’T let her sleep with you._
> 
> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _… alright. Next time it happens, I’ll make sure she sleeps alone that night._
> 
> **OMarsdin90**
> 
> _Good! Congrats, Seymour, you’re on your way to being a proper parent._

Jane can’t help but smile at that for a bit, before she frowns. Katherine can’t sleep after nightmares if she’s alone… was this really the right move?

It would be a question that would be answered that very night, as Katherine sure enough had a nightmare.

The entire house awoke to the sounds of the fifth queen screaming.

Jane instinctively went to go to the door… but stopped. No, she thought, she has to stay here, she needs to let Katherine figure it out by herself.

She stands there.

At the door.

Heart breaking as she listens to Katherine’s screams.

Eventually, they stop, but there’s a knock on Jane’s door a few moments later. When Jane opens it, she’s both relieved and upset to find Catherine of Aragon standing there.

“Hi,” Jane says quietly.

Catherine frowns.

“Kat had a nightmare,” she says simply.

“I know.”

They stand there for a moment.

Catherine is very confused.

“Are you going to go to her?”

“I can’t.”

“You can’t?”

“Yeah, it’s not going to help her learn.”

“Learn what?”

Jane goes to close the door, but Catherine stops it. 

“Jane, she needs you.”

“She needs some tough love, Catherine, she can get through it all just fine if we force her to.”

“Do you really-” Catherine starts, clearly getting annoyed, but Jane’s closed the door and locked it.

Catherine can hear Jane sliding to the ground, soft sobs from the door only barely being heard over Katherine’s own. She can also hear Anna, Anne and Cathy in the room with Katherine, so that’s not the main concern at the moment.

“I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you, Seymour,” Catherine growls out, “but it needs to stop. You’re hurting your daughter like this.”

And with that, Catherine walks off.

The next morning is particularly brutal for Jane; she can see the judgement on the other queen’s faces… save for Katherine, who just looks tired.

“Mum!” Katherine says, relief clear in her voice. “Are you okay?”

Jane frowns. “Of course, love, why do you ask?”

“I just, uhm… nothing, don’t worry about it.” Katherine says, looking away.

Jane knows her daughter. She knows that Katherine wanted to talk about the nightmare. But something’s stopping her.

You’re on your way to being a proper parent, they had said.

Is this was it felt like?

“Alright ladies, we’ve got a few hours before the show,” Catherine says. “Let’s get ready two hours before call time, alright?”

The queens nod and get ready for their day. 

Anna, Anne and Cathy all head out for the day while Catherine, Jane and Katherine decide to stay in.

It’s then when the final straw begins.

A few hours later, Jane realize that Katherine didn’t do the dishes the night before, despite being asked multiple times. Immediately, Jane goes to the forum for help

> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _I think she forgot, but this is the third time this month…_
> 
> **AMarsdin90**
> 
> _This calls for drastic measures, you know._
> 
> **MGordon39**
> 
> _I agree._
> 
> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _Such as?_
> 
> **AMarsdin90**
> 
> _She needs to be punished._
> 
> **MGordon39**
> 
> _A few slaps would do the trick, I reckon._

Jane’s heart goes cold.

> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _I’m not hitting my child!_
> 
> **MGordon39**
> 
> _Then she’ll never respect you, Seymour. My parents did that to me, and I’m far better for it. Your kid will be, too._
> 
> **AMarsdin90**
> 
> _She’ll fake how bad it feels, but that’s what children do. Set the rules, make sure she knows the consequences. I believe in you, Seymour._

Jane almost breaks into tears then and there. There’s no way she can do this… can she?

> **AMarsdin90**
> 
> _Tell us when you’ve done it, would love to hear your kid’s reaction. I bet it’s good. She’ll be healthier for it._

Jane shakes her head, but… if it would really help Katherine…

She stands up, laptop left open on her desk as she moves into the living room. She sees Katherine working on a puzzle.

Kat smiles. “Hey! Do you want to help me with this?”

Jane keeps a stoic face. “Kat, you were supposed to do the dishes last night.”

Katherine blinks… then has the dignity to look sheepish about her mistake.

“Oh! Right, I’ll get right on it after this.”

She turns back to the puzzle, but Jane presses on.

“Kat, I need you to do them right now, please.”

“Can you give me a moment to finish what I was doing?”

“No, I can’t, I need them done now,” Jane continued, an ice to her tone.

Jane frowned, watching as Katherine continued to do her own thing with a frustrated huff.

Normally, Jane would have let it go, given Katherine some time to calm down, then talk about it with her and come to a reasonable decision.

That is not, however, what the message board had suggested, so that is not what Jane Seymour did.

“KATHERINE HOWARD!”

The entire house - not just Katherine - seems to freeze at the yell. Jane’s got the entire house’s attention now as Kat looks over, a bit scared but mostly confused.

Jane looks furious.

“I gave you a command, Katherine, and you’re supposed to obey it. I’m your mother and you do what you’re told.”

Katherine tenses at the cold tone in Jane’s voice, watching as Jane moves forward, goes to grab her wrist and…

… just can’t.

Katherine has already backed up quite a bit, and she shakily watches as Jane clearly fights internally with herself over what to do next. She shifts uncomfortably on her feet, looking down at the ground, clearly scared of Jane.

Of her own mother, Jane realizes. Of me.

“Can I go back to my puzzle now?” Katherine asks, looking down at the ground and refusing to even look at Jane. 

Jane takes a deep, shaky breath before she nods.

“I’m sorry, love. Of course. I’ll just…” Jane shifts awkwardly on her feet, stepping away to give Kat some space. She frowns when Katherine doesn’t even look at her, instead going back to the couch to continue to do the puzzle.

Jane, tears in her eyes, silently moves upstairs and closes the door behind her.

When she gets online, she feels even more shame from the forums as they ask for an update.

> **JSeymour1509**
> 
> _I couldn’t do it._
> 
> **OMarsdin90**
> 
> _What do you mean?!?_
> 
> **JSeymour1509**   
>  _I couldn’t hit her. She looked so scared._
> 
> **MGordon32**
> 
> _That means it was working! You need to go through with it next time._

Jane bites her lip, tears still rolling down her face as she tries to figure out what to do. The others continue on about how they’re proud to have “disciplined” their kids in this way, admonishing Jane for not going through with it, guilting her into giving it a second thought… all of which, at least, except for one person on the forum.

> **CAragon1485**
> 
> _If you’re who I think you are, you better not have laid a finger on that child._

Jane’s heart drops when she sees the message, already having figured out who it was, even before the door opened.

“Looks like we need to chat, Jane.”

Jane, head in hands, just sighs. 

“Come on in, Catherine.”

Catherine of Aragon sat down quietly on the bed, watching as Jane kept her head in her hands as she once again internally debated what was happening. After a few minutes of that, Catherine spoke up.

“Did you hurt her?”

Jane shook her head. There’s a sigh of relief from Aragon before she continued.

“Why are you asking a bunch of people on the internet for help raising a 15th century girl?”

“Because I want to do better by Katherine,” Jane replies, head still in hands. “I want to be the best mother I can be to her.”

“And you’re going to trust the opinion of people online than your own personal experiences with her? Or the opinion of the rest of us?”

Jane said nothing, so Catherine continued.

“That forum is nothing but chaos and very bad opinions, Jane. I looked stuff up there as well, but they suggested… absolutely heinous things.”

Jane peeks up. “Like?”

Catherine leans back on the bed.

“I wanted to see if anyone had any opinions on getting Cathy to a regular sleep schedule. She works all hours of the night and I’m scared for her health. They suggested I turn off the internet after a set amount of time, cut the power to her room, and one person even suggested I burn the books she was reading.”

Jane winces at that. “That’s horrible.”

“All of those things are about controlling the child’s behavior, not giving them a choice in the matter. Imagine if I cut off Cathy’s access and power; it’d seem wrong, wouldn’t it? It would seem like I’m just asking for Cathy to rebel against me.”

Jane nods.

“That’s what those guys were trying to do with you and Kat, Jane. They wanted you to _control_ Kat, not work with her. I’ve been told it’s very old school thinking and it’s done way worse than it helps.”

Jane frowns. “Really?”

“Cathy showed me the statistics.” Catherine shrugs. “It’s a very bad way to try to parent a child; it’s not even parenting, honestly, it’s controlling using violence and abuse.”

Jane continues. “They said it happened to them when they were younger, and they seemed to turn out fine.”

Catherine raises an eyebrow. “They didn’t, though. They think it’s okay to hit children.”

Silence.

Then, Jane shakes her head. “This doesn’t help the main issue. I want to parent Katherine better, and I just… don’t know how.”

Catherine chuckles at that, moving over to Jane and kneeling down in front of her.

“You have been doing wonderfully with her, love,” Catherine says gently. “You really, really have. She’s grown to be outspoken, brilliant, and affectionate. Remember how she was when we all first met her? She was too scared to even talk to us properly, let alone argue or pull a fast one on us.” Catherine tucked a strand of hair from Jane’s face. “You did that. You helped her break out of her shell, gave her someone to be affectionate towards, have some guidance and structure with. You did far more for her than you know, Jane, and I hope you realize that you were doing just fine. In fact, I wager you were doing better than all of those parents on the forum combined.”

Jane watches Catherine for a moment before she just… breaks down, sobbing. Catherine is quick to pull her into a tight hug.

“I don’t know what to do to apologize now,” Jane says through tears. “God, why was I so stupid?”

“Because you were scared, love, it’s alright,” Catherine says softly. “You’ll have to do what you always do with Katherine - you talk it out, you make a plan, you execute the plan, and you figure out what works.” Catherine smiles. “I think Kit needs you more than ever, Jane.”

“Mum?”

It’s at that very moment that the two queens look up to find noneother than Katherine Howard herself, looking very scared and confused.

“Mum, are you okay?”

“I… need to talk with you, Kit. When you want to. If you want to. Whatever makes you feel safe and comfortable.”

Kat frowns. “I’m safe when I’m with you, aren’t I?” 

Jane’s eyes widen at the question and Katherine moves to sit down next to them. Jane is rather speechless at the question.

Katherine takes a deep breath.

“I’m sorry for making you angry before,” she says quietly. “I should have done what you were saying. I was just… I wanted to finish my puzzle, that’s all.”

Jane is instantly shaking her head wildly at that. “No! No, it’s my fault, love. I…” she shakes her head, trying to explain what was going on, trying to make sure that Katherine knew it wasn’t her fault, but rather Jane’s herself. She looks over at Catherine. “Do you mind stepping out for a bit?”

Catherine smiles and stands.

“Not at all. Call if you need, we’re all here for you. You too, Katherine,” Catherine replies, a gentle boop on the girl’s nose as she moves away.

Catherine hears Jane’s soft sniffling as she closes the door, heading straight over to Cathy’s room.

Cathy, on her computer, looks up immediately.

“Oh, hey,” Cathy says, putting down her laptop and moving over to Catherine when she sits down on the oversized beanbag chair. “You alright?”

Catherine nods, opening her arms and Cathy falls right into them.

“Jane tried to let the internet parent Katherine for her,” Catherine replies simply.

Cathy makes a face. “That’s dumb.”

“It was, but I think she’s got it handled. We just need to keep an ear out, in case something goes bad,” Catherine wraps her arms around Cathy some more. “It’s the same guys that tried to suggest I block off your internet access.”

Cathy makes a face. “Never quite understood that; it’s about controlling the consumption here and they just want to overkill it… did they tell Jane to do that too?”

“No, they wanted them to hit Katherine,” Catherine explains, sighing. “She didn’t get that far.”

“That… would have been really bad,” Cathy replies with a frown, “but I’m glad you knocked some sense into her - er, figuratively speaking, hopefully.”

Catherine nods. “Just a bit of a chat, helping her realize that random people on the internet do not know Katherine Howard the way she does.”

“That should have been obvious by now, but alright,” Cathy replies. “I’m glad she’s come to her senses.”

They hear the door open and, from their viewpoint in Cathy’s room, they see Katherine excitedly chatting to Jane about the puzzle she’s working on. Jane, though still slightly teary eyed, follows her daughter with a bright smile.

Catherine smiles at the two women rushing down the stairs.

“Yeah,” Cathy says, settling in. “They’ll be just fine.”

That night, as Jane got ready for bed, she looked down at the forum and smiled when she found that a one CAragon1485 had deactivated their account, and all comments had been deleted. With a grin, Jane swiftly deleted her own account, smiling when she noted that the comments she had written were also deleted a few moments later.

Turning off her laptop, she looked over at her bed to find Katherine already there, asleep with her pillow, a soft smile on her face.

As Jane tucked herself in next to Katherine, smiling even wider at Katherine instantly latching onto her, Jane just knew that what the forum was saying was wrong; she knew Katherine, not them, and this worked better than anything they could suggest.

Yeah, Jane thought as she closed her eyes, she really was a good mum.


End file.
